Treats Aren't Always Sweet (11 page)

“Baby,” Stone said softly. “You were a kid,
you did what you had to do.”

“No,” Treat sobbed. “I didn’t. I could have
called the police and made them listen. I could have come back and
helped them. Fuck, when I saw her in the hospital I could have
grabbed her and made her stay with us. Why the fuck didn’t I?”

War pulled her into his arms and whispered in
her ear, “Honey, no, it is not your fault. You need to let the
blame lay where it should be, right on your father’s head. He is
the one responsible for all this, he is weak. You can’t take this
all on, it is not right.”

Treat sobbed, for everything that could have
been. That was what bothered her the most—what could have been. Her
parents could have been normal, they could have worked together and
sorted shit out, they could have done a lot of things, and yet they
didn’t. She knew in her head the guys were right, but in her heart,
it was breaking wide open and all of the shit she had been carrying
around for so long just burst through.

War and Stone motioned to the guys to leave
them alone, and Free and Match nodded and left. Both men looking
helpless at the sight of one of their own so devastated. They hated
it when one of their women cried. All of them, War and Stone both
knew, if given the chance, all of their brothers would switch
places with them so they could hunt down that bastard and kill him.
But they couldn’t leave her like this, she sounded like a wounded
animal.

“When I was younger, I used to pray they
would die. I even said it aloud a few times to them. I just
couldn’t understand why my friends had these wonderful families who
did shit together and laughed, while mine was like living in hell.”
Treat sobbed and her legs gave out. War grabbed her, carried her to
the couch along the wall, and sat down with her on his lap. Stone
sat next to him and pulled her feet up on his lap then started to
rub her legs as they just let her talk.

For an hour, the anguish of her childhood
poured out of her, story after story that broke both of the guys’
hearts. They knew it was bad, but they didn’t know how bad.

“My very first memory I have is them
fighting, like seriously fighting. Both drunk, both yelling and
swinging their arms at each other. I was standing in the doorway to
my tiny room not understanding what they were saying. Then my
father hit my mother so hard she fell on the floor and didn’t get
up. I didn’t go to her; I just went to the bathroom and back to bed
quietly. I was scared he would hit me like that. I never even
thought about her. Kids should be worried about their mothers; I
don’t ever remember being worried about her like that. I only ever
remember hoping it wouldn’t be me. Praying that he wouldn’t notice
me, of course this never happened, but I still hoped you know. When
I was old enough, my father made me take care of her when he beat
the shit out of her. Clean her up and get her out of the way so he
didn’t have to look at her. If I didn’t go quick enough, he would
pull off his belt and beat me until I moved faster.”

The guys just listened and with each
sentence, they thought of something else they were going to punish
that fucker for. Every single story she told them, they remembered,
and added something else to his list of punishments before they
killed him.

“Baby,” War whispered in her ear. “You
couldn’t have done anything. There is nothing wrong with you, you
were a child, and they were adults. You were not responsible for
taking care of anything. It was theirs, and they failed you, both
of you. Jilly should never have been with Lane, your father is
responsible for that, you know it, baby, you know it.”

Treat sobbed and nodded. She did know it, but
it didn’t make a difference, her mother was dead. How did she
resolve this in her head and move on. She knew what the club was
going to do, they were going to hunt down her father and kill him.
He deserved it, she knew this as well, but he was still her father
right? That should make a difference, shouldn’t it?

She didn’t realize she had said that out
loud, but she had because Stone answered her.

“Honey, you feel what you feel, it is not
wrong, you can’t think like that. You survived and that is what
matters, now you will help Jilly get herself together. Back then
you were a child, someone they should have cherished and taken care
of. Instead they didn’t, they traumatized you and, honey, that is
what is not fair, none of it,” he whispered and kissed her forehead
and she leaned into him and sniffled.

“I don’t know what to do,” she whispered.

“There is nothing to do, we deal with it and
move on. Right now, worry about your sister and everything we are
doing to get her a new life,” War said and hugged her tight. She
felt their love. For once someone was there to pick up the slack
for her. She had no idea how to deal with that and right now, she
didn’t care, they were here for her, and she was feeling like for
once in her life, something was going right.

The trio finally came to the meeting room;
everyone was there, even the Lady Riders. Treat knew that Nike and
Bob were going to come to her; they had been together a long time
with her. But truthfully, after everything that happened with
Trick, she really wasn’t sure if they still felt the same way about
her. Even after all these months of riding along side of them, she
was still hesitant. That cunt almost took everything from her,
thankfully she hadn’t.

Both women hugged her and Bob whispered they
had called Shady and the others and they were ready to ride back
here if she needed it. Treat nodded but told them she would call
Shay later and talk to her.

What happened next was what completely
surprised her. She knew how the home Chapter of the Warriors would
have reacted; she had been with them a long time. The guys would
have been supportive and awesome, because that is who they were.
However, they would never one by one line up to give her their
respects like this Chapter was doing. Not because they didn’t care,
no it was because she was truly one of theirs, she belonged to this
Chapter. She could feel it, Stone and War had claimed her here, and
this meant she was home. Something she had never thought of
changing before right this second.

Treat always figured she would complete work
here and go back to the desert with the rest of her friends, and
once again think of these people as a great Chapter. But right
then, she knew she would never leave. She would call Shady and the
others and ask to be moved, because these people were her family,
it felt right, and this was where she was going to stay, if they
let her.

Free and Bic were the last in line and when
the couple came to her she sobbed a little.
Yeah, these people
were her family
.

“Already called and asked Creed and Fork to
have the Ladies vote on you remaining here and being the Vice to
Bic. Our club voted before you guys came in, it was unanimous, you
belong to this Chapter,” Free said softly to Treat who then burst
into tears yet again. “You belong here.”

She nodded and then turned to Bic who was
waiting and she hugged her and then pulled back. “Okay, enough of
that shit,” the woman said and lifted her chin and looked her in
the eyes. “Lady Riders forever.”

Treat smiled and nodded. And everyone
returned to their seats, and the real meeting began.

“Update,” Free said and Match nodded to both
Stone and War as well, as a show of respect.

“The police report says the person who called
in was the neighbor next door, a Mr. Ulysses,” Match said and Treat
nodded and interrupted.

“He lived to the north, probably is a hundred
years old by now. But the man knows everything that happens in that
place. He was the one who called Social Services like a thousand
times but didn’t get anyone to help. He was always giving us food
and treats.” She laughed. “One of the reasons why I picked the road
name Treat. Seriously, I know most people think it was for another
reason, but I picked mine first. He used to call me Sweet Treats
when he would see me. Always had a lollipop for me.” She smiled and
the guys nodded.

“Yeah,” Match said. “He referred to you as
Sweet Treats, the guys figured you had seen him. Anyway, he said
that last night he heard your father yelling at someone. He assumed
it was your mother, but then he heard another man’s voice. Said
they were arguing about Jilly and why she wasn’t home. Then he
heard some scuffles and your father ran out of the trailer and took
off in his car. The man said he heard someone yelling for help
after and called the police. Before they got there he saw Lane
leave quickly.”

There was silence in the room as everyone
processed the information. Free spoke up finally. “We need to find
him. Anything else, Match?”

“Data is going to do his thing, ‘cause when
we were doing background checks, we came across a lapse in the
records on Chet from way back?”

“Like what?” Freebryd frowned.

“Data, you want to explain?” Match said,
nodding his head to give the members his take on what came
across.

“Sure. Well, it was strange, we couldn’t find
anything prior to Chet showing up in this area, just weird stuff,
almost like the man didn’t exist, but we know he did because it was
about the time Treat would have been a baby. That is what I’m
working on, just need a little time to do some digging,” Data said.
The man was a computer programmer and one of the best hackers
around.

“Data, get it done and keep us updated as
soon as you find out anything.” Data nodded to his Prez and Free
continued, “Now back to Mr. Hide Behind a Woman’s Skirt and how we
are going to go about finding him.”

Everyone nodded, and then they started
planning. Because there was no way they were going to let him get
away with what he did—to Treat’s sister and apparently her mom.

Treat sat stunned and listened. On one hand,
she was glad her father hadn’t killed her mother, which was one
thing that seriously she didn’t want to deal with. However, he was
a coward, he left her there knowing that something bad could
happen. What kind of man did that shit? And she couldn’t even deal
with what Data and Match came across in his background.
With my
luck, the asshole was probably a woman before and had a sex change
and became Chet
, and for the first time in a while inwardly she
smiled at the thought. Fuck, she sure hoped not, that would be
fifty shades of messed up.

Lane leaned back in his truck and waited. She
was going to come out sometime, the little whore. Then she was
going to help him get his son back, get the fuck outta town, and
she was going to be brought to heel.

She deserved everything he was planning
for her
, Lane thought as he glared at the wire fence separating
him from what he wanted. Last night had been a fucking necessity.
He was sending a message to Chet, that little fuck ran away when he
told him he was going to kill him if he didn’t get his son back.
Pussy, he had left the weak little woman crying in the corner. Well
he took care of that, now the idiot would take him seriously.

Chet, he was a joke of a man now as he had
been the first time Lane had come across him. Brooke had just been
a baby then, and Chet had needed help. Yeah, he helped him,
everyone needed a weak man to use as cover.
The dumbass has
helped me more than he will ever know too. I can beat the best of
them, already had so why a bunch of bikers would think they can
outsmart me is fucking hilarious.

Motorcycle gang, seriously, they went out
with the seventies.
They were just wannabes, he was sure of it,
because if they were real bad asses he would have heard about them,
and he hadn’t. Hell, he asked a few of his connections and they had
been very informative. Boy scouts, the lot of them. He heard all of
the stories of helping the community and crap like that, whatever,
they were just a bunch of guys who road Harleys that did good
deeds. They were harmless, and even if they weren’t, it didn’t
fucking matter. She was promised to him, not that sorry excuse for
a woman he got, and he was going to take what was his dammit.

He saw a few men come out, get on their
bikes, and ride away, Lane grinned. Yeah, a motorcycle against a
truck, who would win, he would and that is what he was gonna do. A
plan began to form him his head, he grinned as he thought about the
weak little bikers who were gonna be upset when one of their own
was killed all because they were protecting his bitch.

They would turn her over in a flash then, and
if they didn’t he still had a backup. Hell yeah they would and then
he wouldn’t have to worry about them chasing after her. They needed
to give her up on their own. It was a perfect plan, one he would be
able to pull off himself. Kill one, and then send the message to
turn the whore over to him.